Creating a Multiverse - Dungeon Master's Guide (2014)

Creating a Multiverse. When Adventurers reach higher levels their path extends to other dimensions of reality: the planes of existence that form the multiverse. The characters might be called on to rescue a friend from the horrific depths of the Abyss or to sail the shining waters of the River Oceanus. They can hoist a tankard with the friendly giants of Ysgard or face the chaos of Limbo to contact a wizened githzerai sage. Planes of existence define the extremes of strange and often dangerous environments. The most bizarre locations present settings undreamed of in the natural world. Planar adventures offer unprecedented dangers and wonders. Adventurers walk on streets made of solid fire, or test their mettle on a battlefield where the fallen are resurrected with each dawn. The Planes The various planes of existence are realms of myth and mystery. They're not simply other worlds, but dimensions formed and governed by spiritual and elemental principles. The Outer Planes are realms of spirituality and thought. They are the spheres where celestials, fiends, and deities exist. The plane of Elysium, for example, isn't merely a place where good creatures dwell, and not even simply the place where spirits of good creatures go when they die. It is the plane of goodness, a spiritual realm where evil can't flourish. It is as much a state of being and of mind as it is a physical location. The Inner Planes exemplify the physical essence and elemental nature of air, earth, fire, and water. The Elemental Plane of Fire, for example, embodies the essence of fire. The plane's entire substance is suffused with the fundamental nature of fire: energy, passion, transformation, and destruction. Even objects of solid brass or basalt seem to dance with flame, in a visible and palpable manifestation of the vibrancy of fire's dominion. In this context, the Material Plane is the nexus where all these philosophical and elemental forces collide in the jumbled existence of mortal life and ma...